"The light display screens directly aimed into the eyes, unlike an overhead light, greatly decrease melatonin production in the evening hours," he says. "Melatonin is the sleep hormone and begins to increase as light decreases. Not using screen technology after 8 p.m. is highly advised for a good night's sleep."

Skip the gym

Climate-controlled treadmill trekking is fine when the weather is nasty outside.

But you can turn the outdoors into your gym and give yourself credit for more than the conventional activities like jogging, biking and hiking.

For a 150-pound adult, an hour of gardening burns about 275 calories, according to online calorie-counter caloriesperhour.com. A 25-minute moderate jog/walk with your pet will burn about 115 calories. Mowing your lawn with a push-mower for a half-hour burns 200 calories.

A half-hour game of beach volleyball will use up 225 calories. And an hour of leisure swimming (not laps) burns about 400 calories— even more, we're guessing, if you go down the twisty slide a few times.

Best of all, you won't waste time commuting to and from a gym. (Burn a few more calories patting yourself on the back.)

Swear off TV

You've probably heard: We watch too much television.

"I think if people were monitored and then told how much screen time they spend, they would be astonished," says Seaward.

American adults average 2.75 hours of television per day, according to the 2012 American Time Usage Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Many kids watch even more.

"On any given day in the United States, 64 percent of babies between 1 and 2 are watching screen media for over two hours a day," says Susan Linn, director of the nonprofit Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (commercialfreechildhood.org). "By the time they're preschoolers they average as much as 4.3 to 4.6 hours a day. Between 8 and 18, on any given day, children are on average consuming a little more than seven hours a day of screen media."

"It's too prevalent," says Linn. "It's creating a generation of people who are either bored or anxious unless they're in front of a screen. It doesn't bode well for society."

Give your TV a rest (at least until the good shows return in the fall).